These meatless spinach lasagna noodle roll ups are perfectly paired with Homemade Alfredo Sauce. It was a hit at our most recent dinner party. I love Alfredo Sauce that is not from a jar! This sauce never fails me, always so rich and flavor-filled. The roll ups I've done many different ways, from the fillings to the sauces, its always tasty working off the basic lasagna idea. ~Enjoy! Diane
Roll Up Ingredients: Homemade Alfredo Sauce (see recipe below) 1 10 oz. package frozen spinach, thawed & well-drained 1 pint ricotta cheese 1 cup mozzarella cheese, divided 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded 1 egg, beaten 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley 1 teaspoon salt 8 lasagna noodles, prepared according to package directions ************************************************** Homemade Alfredo Sauce Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter, room temp 2 cups heavy whipping cream, warmed 4 ounces cream cheese, room temp 2 cloves minced garlic 1 tsp garlic powder, see note below** 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese Sauce Directions: In a medium saucepan add butter, heavy whipping cream, and cream cheese. Cook over medium heat and whisk until melted. Add the minced garlic, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Continue to whisk until smooth. Add the grated Parmesan cheese. Bring to a simmer and continue to cook for about 3-5 minutes or until it starts to thicken. Leave this on low, stir often and Continue on with making Roll Ups **garlic note: if you love garlic, add 1 tsp powder and the minced garlic. if you just "kind of like" garlic, add in 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder. if you prefer no garlic, then omit garlic entirely. ************************************************* Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly coat a 9x13 baking dish with olive oil (I use a paper towel just to smear around inside and on bottom of dish) Pour 1/4 cup Alfredo sauce over the bottom of the baking dish. In a large bowl, combine spinach, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese, beaten egg and salt until well blended. Spoon cheese mixture along one side of cooked lasagna noodles, distributing evenly, and roll up. Place roll-ups seam-side down in prepared baking dish; top with a little Alfredo sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese. Loosely cover with foil, and bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until heated through. Once out of the oven, pour remaining Alfredo sauce over the lasagna rolls, sprinkle with parsley and serve. Diane's Kitchen Tip: Keep Alfredo Sauce warm on your stove-top and spoon finished sauce over entire dish when its fresh out of the oven. The reason not to place all the Alfredo in the baking dish, is that this sauce is easy to "break." Meaning, the butter & oils separate from the cheeses in the sauce, to help prevent this - use only a little sauce to coat the bottom of baking dish and a little atop the roll ups. Side Note: starting with warmed cream, and room temp butter and cream cheese will help to keep your sauce from 'breaking' later on.
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There are so many ways to cook chicken and its various parts... Have you ever thought about stuffing just the chicken breast? It's not as hard as it sounds, in fact, its quite easy and turns out super tasty! In this recipe its best to utilize your cast iron skillet which moves from stove-top to oven. The chicken is seasoned with a wonderful sun-dried tomato and basil pesto, along with spinach and mozzarella. There are so many stuffing options as well, another family favorite is the Chicken Popper Stuffed Breast - recipe soon to follow! In the meantime, enjoy my Caprese stuffed chicken. ~Diane
Skillet Caprese Stuffed Chicken Breasts 4 boneless skinless Chicken Breasts, trimmed of fat One 10 oz. box of Frozen Spinach; thawed & well drained. 1 Cup Sun-dried Tomato Pesto with basil & cheese. (I use "Simply Pesto" DeLallo brand) 2 Cups shredded Mozzarella 2-3 Tablespoons Italian Seasonings Salt & Pepper to taste 2-3 Tablespoons Olive Oil Preheat oven to 400º. Take each chicken breast and fillet in half horizontally without cutting all the way through. Open up the chicken, flatten out on your work surface and pound to 1 1/2 inch thickness if needed (this will help the chicken cook evenly.) Sprinkle with Italian seasonings, salt & pepper. Spread 1/4 cup of the tomato pesto over the entire inside surface of each chicken breast. Place spinach, and mozzarella over half the coated surface (see photos below) Fold the chicken breast back over onto itself. Secure with toothpicks. Sprinkle chicken (top & bottom) with more salt, pepper and Italian seasonings as preferred. In a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil. Sear chicken until golden, 3 minutes per side, then transfer the skillet to the oven and cook, about 25-30 minutes until meat thermometer in thickest part of top piece of chicken reads above 165. Remove toothpicks and serve. Recipe & Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home Spinach Cashew Pesto (Dip or Sauce) *guest post Ingredients: 1 10 oz pkg frozen spinach, thawed and drained (save juice) 1/4 cup cashews 1/4 cup olive oil 2 Tbsp dried basil 3 Tbsp lime juice 1 Tbsp Mongolian Fire Oil 1 Tbsp Fish Sauce 1/4 tsp sea salt Directions: Put all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth. If mixture is too thick, slowly add juice from spinach package until thin enough to blend. Serve as dip or thin with heavy cream, half & half or milk, to serve over pasta. Recipe & Photos by: JD Provence for Canning and Cooking at Home Perfect soup for a cold Winter's night. I made this and after a day of shoveling snow, this hit the spot! I use spinach in my version and sometimes throw in some extra onion. Since I use a slightly spicy Italian sausage, I omitted the dash of hot sauce and let people add that to their own bowl of soup, if preferred. You can use link or ground/bulk sausage in this recipe. I've tried both and both work great. ~Enjoy! Diane
Zuppa Toscana Ingredients: 1 lb Italian sausage links or bulk/ground (mild sausage or spicy) 2 large potatoes,diced into bite sized cubes 2 medium onions, diced 1/4 cup bacon bits or crumbled cooked bacon 2-3 tablespoons garlic, minced 2 cups kale, spinach, swiss chard or kale, chopped 1 cup water 1 quart chicken broth 1 cup heavy cream with 2 tablespoons of flour, mixed together salt/pepper to taste hot sauce, *optional to taste Directions: Chop or slice uncooked sausage into small pieces. Brown sausage in your soup pot with the diced onion and potato. Add in the garlic the last 30 seconds during browning, just to release its flavor without scorching. Add chicken broth and water to pot and stir. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are done (tender). Add in the cooked bacon. Salt, pepper and *add hot sauce to taste. Simmer for another 10 minutes.Turn to low heat. Add in your choice of: spinach {kale or chard} and stir in the cream/flour. Heat through and serve. SLOW COOKER Preparation: Brown sausage links in a saute pan with onion and potatoes. Place sausage, chicken broth, garlic, potatoes and onion in slow cooker. Add just enough water to cover the vegetables and meat (about a cup) Cook on high 3-4 hours (low 5-6 hours) until potatoes are soft. 30 minutes before serving: Mix flour into cream removing lumps. Add cream and spinach, kale or chard to the crock pot, stir. Cook on high 30 minutes or until broth thickens slightly. Add salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste. Recipe adapted from: Carl Barbaro Photo by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home I love working with Puff pastry for appetizers and desserts. Why? because, the dough is flaky, soft and buttery which most people equate to decadent. The best part is how easy the dough is to work with...I do buy store bought as layering slabs of butter between dough I feel needs to be left up to Commercial bakers...not me! I watched a chef make puff pastry once, it was an hour long show that was time lapsed (enough said?) Even that chef admitted that buying it frozen from the store is a far better and less time consuming endeavor. I trust his word! I buy frozen Puff Pastry and just grab it from Freezer when I know I want to be baking with it. The instructions are to thaw 40 mins at room temperature - you do want the dough softened but, still cold. I lay out parchment paper and open up my dough sheets to let defrost...(you usually get two sheets per box) I then use a rolling pin to stretch the dough a bit (it the dough starts sticking to your pin, its getting too warm (pop in fridge for 5 mins) <---or flour your rolling pin if need be. I hope you enjoy this little appetizer (I fully admit, this recipe is ON THE BOX!) Some of the best recipes usually are somewhere on the products box or packaging - I figure if they took the time to place it on there - it must be decent! ~Enjoy! Diane
Spinach & Cheese Puffs Ingredients: 1 egg 1 tbsp. water 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese garlic powder 1/2 pkg. Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed 1 pkg. (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained, lightly salt. Directions: Heat the oven to 400°F. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork. Unfold the pastry sheet onto a piece of parchment paper, lightly roll out dough a bit longer and wider then place dough on parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Brush the pastry sheet all over the top surface with the egg/water mixture. Sprinkle garlic powder lightly over entire egged, surface. Top with the cheese and lightly salted spinach. Starting at a short side, roll up like a jelly roll. Cut into about 10 (1 inch) slices. Place the slices, around your backing sheet cut-side down. Brush the slices with the egg/water mixture. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and let cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. The wider you cut your slices, the longer they take to bake (if cutting 1/2 inch slices, cook time is approx 15-20 mins) For best results, make sure to remove as much liquid as you can from the spinach before adding it to the pastry. If it's too wet, it may make the pastry soggy. Recipe Adapted from: Pepperidge Farms Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home |